Fingernail on 18/8/2007 at 14:18
Well, you can get quite a bit done in a year if you try a little. This time last year all I had was a few ideas, and in that time I've put together a band, had more ideas, and written what I think are some pretty decent songs. I've also learned something about recording and mixing, although it's never going to be perfect.
But of course, you be the judge! This isn't an album, it's a neat collection of 10 demos which is about the length of an album.
(
www.thedebtoffensive.com/the%20debt%20offensive.zip) (55Mb, vbr mp3 format)
So - enjoy them! I don't really know how or if to try and describe the style or sound - some of it is quite dark, it's all fairly melodic (to a point), it ranges in sound from quite a classic timbre - there's a bit of The Bends in there in places - to some quite unusual effects. It's all a bit eclectic, really! And it's certainly not without a sense of humour in some songs - I'll let you be the judge of where irony ends and po-faced artistic pretention begins.
EDIT: updated url, remixed mp3s in a higher quality than ever before. DIRECTOR'S CUT
redface on 18/8/2007 at 14:25
Downloading...
Paz on 18/8/2007 at 17:06
Based on one run through ...
Not bad. I think it starts strongly, finishes pretty well and goes flabby as fuck in the middle.
You've heard me say this before, but I'm going to keep saying it. Your singer is ... not too hot. He think he's Morrissey or something, but he isn't. With vocals that are mixed LOUD, this isn't a brilliant combo.
I reckon you can get away with his mannered, affected antics on a few tracks (something like "Jason and the Argonauts" for example - great title there by the way - which is jaunty and knowingly pompous), but on others the effect falls flat. Obviously they're demos, so I guess picking out individual off-key (sung) notes and stuff is a bit mean but ... well, it seems to happen a lot.
"Youth" has a neat hook and the kind of ironic emptiness of sentiment to appeal to DA KIDZ. The aforementioned "Jason .." is cool, especially the cod-operatic solo or whatever that is. Sometimes I felt as though the words were being a bit forced into the tune, but it wasn't overwhelming.
"Days of Uncertainty" and "Two Birds" reminded me of a kind of less-goth And Also The Trees (they operate with similarly portentious vocals). The middle songs I couldn't tell you much about because they didn't really register with me at all.
"Rick's House" was a nice piss-about and had a fine line about the neighbour being a cunt. Taking a joke song to five minutes might be pushing it a bit though. Decent ANARCHIC vibe.
Overall production/playing seem pretty tasty, demo-status considered. They've got an "immediate" quality to them, not too processed and stuff - a symptom of their demo status I suppose, but it's fairly beneficial. Just push that vox fader down some.
Some of that might sound harsh BUT I'M A HARSH LISTENER.
Fingernail on 18/8/2007 at 19:07
Well no, thanks for being harsh, because it sort of confirms many things - the odd flat note aside, Fred's voice just genuinely seems to divide people sometimes. And Days and Rain Three wouldn't have all that nice harmonisation without him.
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the middle so much - personally I rather think Rain Three is one of the highlights. But again, everyone so far seems to pick a different bunch as the best.
Rick's House is not a "joke song". It probably comes off better live (where it tends to accelerate rapidly and in a totally uncontrolled fashion) - and yeah, an edit wouldn't hurt if it were going for a single or radio or something. It was one of those "this is really 5 minutes?" songs once we'd done it.
PigLick on 19/8/2007 at 08:16
I got this as well. I havent listened to it all yet, but I pretty much agree with Paz's comments, especially about the vocals. Personally I think they are quite shit, and pretty much ruin the music to a certain extent.
Anyway, thats just an early impression, I will post more after I have listened to more of it.
Medlar on 19/8/2007 at 08:49
I'm probably not qualified to critique....But get the vocalist to change his style.
Fingernail on 19/8/2007 at 09:56
Thanks for listening! It feels like I'm trying to save a sinking ship but I guess all I have to remember is that there are some people out there who think this:
Quote:
Also, I really like your singer. He sounded very 70's bohemian British, but I couldn't figure out exactly who he reminded me of. Now, I'm of the belief that he represents what it would sound like if Peter Hammill (in the lower register) and John Lennon had a baby. A+ pipes )
which leaves me ultimately confused (but it's what I'd say - I think his voice is actually quite nice to listen to). But keep it coming!
I got some very indepth feedback on the mastering and production on another forum, and there's obviously more detail I need to go into there in some respects, but they are only demos after all.
Paz on 19/8/2007 at 12:01
That's fair enough, and you'll always find the opposite viewpoint to pretty much everything related to music if you look around for it. He certainly *has* a style, which is a whole lot better than not having one - even if it divides people.
I honestly think that even people who love, love, love your vocalist might benefit from him being turned a bit lower though. People who aren't so keen definitely would. At the moment he's more prominent in the tracks than anything I've heard in quite a while. It forces the ear to the singing and lyrics which, in my view, aren't the strongest parts.
Anyway, you probably don't want to be aurally insisting that listeners focus on just one part of the ENSEMBLE, do you? Give that instrumentation a chance!
Have you tried tinkering with mixes that sink the vocals a bit lower? You don't have to bury them like a Slowdive track or anything, just make the listening experience a bit more ... comfortable. I think that might gain more favourable responses.
Fingernail on 19/8/2007 at 15:10
Like I say, the mixing and mastering is not really the best thing in the world. We were pushing for clarity, and maybe if it was mastered better we wouldn't resort to simply pushing up the slider. Listening to it though (depending on the volume - it tends to be better louder), the balance doesn't personally jar me, although once again - the mastering doesn't really account for a huge variety of listening environments - it sounds fine on my systems and in the car, but as for elsewhere, this is why we're releasing really!
Ermana on 19/8/2007 at 16:26
I did some serious test for your album without intention :) At first I wanted just to listen, but then had some serious work to do and left it in Winamp for two hours. Just forgot that I am trying to "value" it and listened as background.
After hour or so, vocalist voice stopped annoying me and I observed good things like nice music and different themes.
Everything is fine and looks promising for simple listener :thumb:, except vocal as it is in this demo. I liked "Youth" best :)
